Gyroplane visits Bailes - June 30, 2018

At the invitation of the EAA 347 President, John Kothe, Bailes alumnus Robert Laird and his wife, Amy, visited the airport with his Autogyro Cavalon gyroplane, and were met by enthusiastic and inquisitive EAA 347 members. The Cavalon is a 2-seat, side-by-side, fully enclosed LSA gyroplane.   For the summer, though, the doors have been removed. which makes low-level and ground operations a bit cooler.  Robert also wrote about his visit in his well-known Texas-Flyer blog.

Test Flight Gone Wrong - August 13, 2011

Looking in the mirror I say to myself, “stupid, stupid, stupid.”  Have you ever done that?  Now don’t lie to me.  If you haven’t per haps there are times when you should have.  Those dumb decisions that you knew perhaps shouldn’t have been made but you d id it anyhow.  Ok, all together now, “stupid, stupid, stupid.” I call them stupid days.   I had one of those days that almost turned out to be a permanent stupid for me. Click here to read the rest of the story!

EAA 347 Election

At the December 18, 2010 EAA347 meeting, officers elections were held. The new president of EAA 347 is Wade Jones, and the new Vice President is Joe Gomez.  Joe Ware, James Holt, Bud Bearce, & John Ri ley were re-elected to their current positions of Flight Advisor, Secretary, Treasurer and Flight Advisor, respectively.  During the meeting, it was also agreed that t here would be six meetings per year, one every other month.

Fly-In Date Changed

Due to a conflict with the Louise, TX "Under The Wire" Flyin, E AA347 has changed the fly-in date to November 6, 2010.

EAA 347 Board picks next Fly-In date - July 17, 2010

October 9, 2010 has been picked as the next EAA 347 fly-in. The rain date is October 16th.  A BBQ is planned, and a flyer was produced.

E. P. Bullock visits Bailes - April 24, 2010

It was an extra special morning for those of us that showed up at Bailes Field today. Wade Jones brought his friend E.P. Bullock who lives in Lake Jackson.
    Mr Bullock is one of the few remai ning fighter pilots still alive that served with the 23rd Fighter Group in China during WW 11 known as the Fighting Tigers.  He shared some great stories of his service and showed some memorab ilia he had brought with him. He served there in 1943-44. He flew both a P40 warhawk and a P51 mustang.
    One of the sto ries he told was how he got shot down on his first mission and had to bail out. He got hung up half out on the cockpit while his plane went into a steep spiral and barely got free in time to open his chute before he hit the ground.
     He had a little display case full of ribbons and metals he had earned. Among them was a Distinguished Flying Cross, a medal given a member of the armed forces who distinguishes himself in support of operations by "herois m or extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight ".
     Besides being a g reat American hero and part of an American legend, he is a really likeable man. He had a smile on most of the morning, he joked around and talked and acted like he was among old friends.
    What an h onor to have him. I think those of us that met him will not soon forget him and his stories.

Club selects two new officers - December 23, 2009

Club members elected two new officers:  Ronnie Woods as president, and Joe Gomez as vice president.  They are replacing Allyn Noblitt and Mi ckey Crouch, respectively.  Thanks go to Allyn and MIckey for t heir dedicated service!

EAA347 has booth at Festival of Lights - November 17, 2007

Members of the EAA347 man the 347 info booth at the 2007 Festval of Lights e vent in Lake Jackson.  The booth displayed various issues of S port Aviation, Light Sport Pilot and other EAA publications.  Click here to read more!

EAA347 Board Meeting, New President - January 27, 2007

An open board meeting occurred on January 27,2007, at Brazoria County Airport. A new president was elected -- Allyn Noblitt. Also, Bud Bearce will take over from Jim Laird as Treasurer. 14 members were present for the meeting, and Betty Terrell provided snacks. Meeting minutes can be viewed here.

Chapter President Gets New  Bird - August 28, 2006

David Bucklew, EAA347 Chapter president, proudly annouced to the group that he had acquired a new aircraft, a Baby Ace.  David says: "The Baby Ace is a tail dragger, which I really enjoy because of the added skill and feel of take offs and landing.  It also has the good old Continental Engine.  Only has around 150 hours on the engine.  The w hole plane is just a big ultralight.  Empty she weighs around 560 lbs.  It sh ould be a lot of fun."  Unfortunately, he had to sell his MiniMax and Quicksilver to pay for it!  And, of course, you know what that means:  more room in the hangar!  :-)

EAA347 Member Meeting/BBQ - December 19, 2005

A member meeting and BBQ was held at Bill Terrells house to elect officers for 2006.  All existing officers were re-elected by the 11 mem bers present, with two new positions announced:  John Riley (formerly Vice President) as Flight Advisor and Dave Bleakney (also the club Secretary) as Techn ical Counselor.  Ser vice awards for 2005 were handed out to the officers to thank them for their support throughout the year.  Mickey Crouch volunteered to be the Young Eagles coordinator for the club.  EAA347 currently ha s 21 active members.  [The photo shows Guy Paul's RV-9A parti ally assembled in Bill Terrell's "Aircraft Factory" and the club members admiring the quick-build fuselage.]
 

EAA347 BBQ - June 18, 2005

The EAA347 had a members-only BBQ on June 18, 2005 at Bailes Airport, 7R9.  Otherwise, it's been a very quiet summer!

Bleakney Flies Low

Murphy Maverick

May 2005 -- EAA347 member William Terrell stands in front of his newly finished Murphy Maverick in the hangar at Bailes Airport (7R9).  The aircraft passed the DAR exam with flying colors on May 12, 2005, and was successfully test flown on May 13th by his friend, Steve Rouse, who still has a smile on his face!  The Murphy is powered by the 2-cylin der, 4-stroke HKS 700E engine from HPower.  Mr. Terrell, 80, took abo ut 2 years to complete this exquisite work of art -- including over 15,000 rivets --  and is quite proud to say it's his 7th experimental aircraft

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Above, Bi ll's friend, Steve Rouse, skims the Murphy over the treetops on it's maiden flight.

March 5, 2005 --  Due to recent events and the need for new officers, there was a meeting at Bailes Airport (7R9), and EAA Chapter 347 members elected David Bucklew and Mickey Crouch as president and vice president, respectively.  All other officer positions will remain unchanged.   Also discussed at the meeting was the upcoming Brazoria County Fly-In (April 23rd).

Feburary 17, 2005 -- Russell Hakanson, President of EAA Chapter 347, was killed attempting an off-field landing approximately 5 miles east of Bay City airport.
[Obituary]  Although there were no witnesses to the crash, it probably happ ened around 6pm Wednesday evening.  Post-crash evidence suggests the engine seized, and Russell attempted to land in an open field.  Howe ver, he didn't quite make it and ended 30 feet up in a pecan tree.   He appeared to have been killed instantly, but was not found until 8am the next morning by one of many pilots searching the area for him.  Services were held on Monday, February 21.  Rus sell is survived by his wife, Cindi, and daughter Kendra.  EAA Chapter 347 will honor Russell by having a plaque placed on the EAA Memorial Wall, in Oshkosh, WI., in a ceremony to take place later in 2005.